How Will New Head Coach Dan Quinn Rebuild the Falcons' Pathetic Pass Rush?

It's the dawn of a new age for the Atlanta Falcons, who named former Seattle Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn as the franchise's 16th head coach Tuesday.

It's hardly a surprise that the Falcons went the defensive route at head coach. It's on that side of the ball where they desperately need to turn things around.

And Quinn's first order of business needs to be finding the Falcons a pass rush, because in recent years opposing quarterbacks have had enough time in the pocket to have a sandwich and play some Candy Crush.

It isn't hard to figure out why Atlanta had the NFL's worst pass defense in 2014. Last year, the Falcons ranked dead last in the NFC with 22 sacks. By weight of comparison, that's the same amount Justin Houston of the Kansas City Chiefs tallied...

By himself.

In fact, the Falcons haven't ranked inside the top 20 in the NFL in sacks since 2011. The team hasn't finished the season inside the top half of the NFL in that regard since 2008.

Gary Davenport/Bleacher Report

In today's NFL, if you can't pressure the quarterback, odds are said quarterback is going to tear your defense to pieces.

Quinn made it clear to Kevin Patra of NFL.com that improving the pass rush is a priority for the team:

"

The biggest thing for us is affecting the quarterback, and that may be the hits on him, the times we can move him off the spot. The third-down sacks are critical ones, 'cause that's getting off the field. For us, the biggest thing is affecting the quarterback, maybe by the way we rush, maybe by the way we pressure, maybe by the way we cover or combination of all of those. But affecting him is the No. 1 thing

"

In an effort to turn around that lagging pass rush, the Falcons will once again be making some big changes on defense.

For the second straight season, the Falcons are looking at a schematic shift. This time, it's from the 3-4 that the Falcons ran in 2014 to Quinn's 4-3 "under" front.

An "under" front, in case you were wondering, means that the line shifts toward the weak side. The RDE (called the "Leo" in Quinn's scheme) lines up outside the left tackle, often standing up.

This change in philosophy is also going to require some big changes personnel-wise.

The tackle spots shouldn't be a problem. Many of last year's free-agent signings were made with the shift to the 3-4 in mind, so there's no shortage of big bodies.

Jonathan Babineaux has experience playing both tackle spots in a 4-3 front. Second-year pro Ra'Shede Hageman played the "three technique" at Minnesota and may be a better fit in that familiar spot than he was in a new scheme a year ago.

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Paul Soliai could also man the "one technique" space-eater spot. Tyson Jackson could...

Oh, who am I kidding? Tyson Jackson needs to be shown the door after a 2014 season in which the free-agent acquisition ranked outside the top 50 defensive tackles at Pro Football Focus.

The point is, where the beefeaters are concerned, if anything the Falcons have too many bodies.

The defensive ends are a whole other story.

Of the players currently on Atlanta's roster, the two most proven options able to play end in a 4-3 front (Osi Umenyiora and Kroy Biermann) are both set to hit free agency. Neither played especially well a year ago.

Of the two, the player this writer would be more interested in retaining is Biermann. The 29-year-old was miscast as a 3-4 outside linebacker, but he has shown the ability to be a capable edge-setter and run defender in the past.

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

Biermann's also a lifelong Falcon and a player who should come relatively cheaply. There isn't much sizzle with Biermann, but the seven-year veteran is a decent complementary end.

There are also a number of young players, from Stansly Maponga to Malliciah Goodman and Jonathan Massaquoi, who could serve in depth or rotational roles. It's possible that one of those youngsters could blossom under Quinn's tutelage (he told reporters that "We'll try to best feature the players that we have," per Patra), but to this point there's been very little blooming from them.

And that leaves Quinn with a predicament—Daddy needs his Leo.

Courtesy NFL Game Rewind

The "Leo" end is the engine that drives Quinn's front. It's generally a role occupied by smaller, quicker ends. In fact, given how much time the "Leo" spends standing up, he's essentially a linebacker...sort of.

Luckily for Quinn and the Falcons, it's a good year to be in the market for a pass-rusher.

The cream of this year's defensive end crop is likely Jason Pierre-Paul of the New York Giants. His detractors will point to Pierre-Paul's struggles with injuries in 2012 and 2013.

Supporters will point to the 26-year-old's monster 2011 season, or that fact that with Pierre-Paul fully healthy over the second half of last year, he racked up nine sacks over the season's last five games.

Simply put, Pierre-Paul is a dream "Leo." Strong at run support (as evidenced by his annually gaudy tackle numbers) but still plenty quick and athletic enough to thrive as a stand-up pass-rusher.

Buffalo's Jerry Hughes is a similar player. Also 26 years old, the 255-pound five-year veteran has tallied over 40 tackles and double-digit sacks in each of the past two seasons.

However, both of those young pass-rushers are likely going to command hefty contracts. With over $23 million in cap space per Over the Cap, the Falcons have the room to make a run at one, but Quinn also has more than one hole to patch on his new ride.

Luckily (again) for him, there are also some interesting options on the scratch and dent rack.

Both Derrick Morgan of the Tennessee Titans and Brandon Graham of the Philadelphia Eagles are former first-round draft picks who have yet to live up to their draft slots. Both are in the prime of their careers. And both very much fit the mold of what Quinn will be looking for in his weak-side end.

Granted, Morgan and Graham don't have the resume of a Pierre-Paul or Hughes. But that also means they won't command as big of a contract, and both players have shown the ability to get after the passer when afforded the chance.

There are other names as well. Cleveland's Jabaal Sheard and Tampa Bay's Adrian Clayborn are interesting potential additions at the strong-side end spot. An aging veteran like Dwight Freeney of the San Diego Chargers could serve as a fallback option if the Falcons whiff on the younger pros I mentioned.

And that's without even discussing this year's draft class.

And that's the biggest takeaway from all of this. A quick glance at the Falcons' roster in a vacuum creates the impression that Atlanta faces a tall task in remaking their front seven. And to an extent that's true.

However, Quinn (who has final personnel say per ESPN's Vaughn McClure) is one of the most highly regarded defensive minds in the NFL today. He knows what he wants and has a fair amount of cap space with which to get it.

Now it's just a matter of getting down to work.

Gary Davenport is an NFL Analyst at Bleacher Report and a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association and the Pro Football Writers of America. You can follow Gary on Twitter @IDPManor.